Black nature : four centuries of African American nature poetry

cover image

Where to find it

Davis Library (8th floor)

Call Number
PS591.B53 B49 2009
Status
Checked Out (Due 5/31/2024)

Stone Center Library

Call Number
PS591.B53 B49 2009 c. 2
Status
Checked Out (Due 7/14/2023)
Item Note
1 hold currently placed on this item

Authors, etc.

Names:

Summary

This book presents the natural world seen through the eyes of black poets. ""Black Nature"" is the first anthology to focus on nature writing by African American poets, a genre that until now has not commonly been counted as one in which African American poets have participated. Black poets have a long tradition of incorporating treatments of the natural world into their work, but it is often read as political, historical, or protest poetry - anything but nature poetry. This is particularly true when the definition of what constitutes nature writing is limited to work about the pastoral or the wild. Camille T. Dungy has selected 180 poems from 93 poets that provide unique perspectives on American social and literary history to broaden our concept of nature poetry and African American poetics. This collection features major writers, such as Phillis Wheatley, Rita Dove, Yusef Komunyakaa, Gwendolyn Brooks, Sterling Brown, Robert Hayden, Wanda Coleman, Natasha Trethewey, and Melvin B. Tolson, as well as newer talents, such as Douglas Kearney, Major Jackson, and Janice Harrington. Included are poets writing out of slavery, Reconstruction, the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement, and late twentieth- and early twenty-first-century African American poetic movements. ""Black Nature"" brings to the fore a neglected and vital means of considering poetry by African Americans and nature-related poetry as a whole.

Contents

  • Acknowledgments p. xvii
  • Introduction: The Nature of African American Poetry p. xix Camille T. Dungy
  • Cycle One Just Looking
  • Ed Roberson "We Must Be Careful" p. 3
  • Lucille Clifton "the earth is a living thing" p. 6
  • Al Young "The Mountains of California: Part I" p. 7
  • G. E. Patterson "The Mountain Road Ends Here" p. 8
  • June Jordan "Queen Anne's Lace" p. 9
  • George Moses Horton "On Summer" p. 10
  • Nikki Giovanni "The Yellow Jacket" p. 12
  • Yusef Komunyakaa "Eclogue at Twilight" p. 14
  • Marilyn Nelson "Ruellia Noctifl ora" p. 16
  • Rita Dove "Evening Primrose" p. 18
  • Robert Hayden "The Night-Blooming Cereus" p. 19
  • George Marion McClellan "A September Night" p. 22
  • Thylias Moss "Sweet Enough Ocean, Cotton" p. 23
  • Helene Johnson "Metamorphism" p. 25
  • Toni Wynn "a brown girl's nature poem: provincetown" p. 26
  • Gerald Barrax Sr. "What More?" p. 27
  • Ed Roberson "be careful" p. 29
  • Rachel Eliza Griths "Watching Blackbirds Turn to Ghosts" p. 30
  • Alvin Aubert "If Winter Comes, Can Spring?" p. 32
  • Evie Shockley "31 words * prose poems [#12]" p. 33
  • Cycle Two Nature, Be with Us
  • Ravi Howard "We Are Not Strangers Here" p. 37
  • James A. Emanuel "For a Farmer" p. 39
  • Gerald Barrax Sr. "To Waste at Trees" p. 40
  • Carl Phillips "White Dog" p. 41
  • Evie Shockley "you must walk this lonesome" p. 42
  • Cyrus Cassells "Down from the Houses of Magic" p. 43
  • George Marion McClellan "The Ephemera" p. 49
  • Ruth Ellen Kocher "Sleepwalker on the Mountain" p. 50
  • Richard Wright #543 p. 51
  • Mark McMorris "Aphrodite of Economy" p. 52
  • Marilyn Nelson "Arachis Hypogaea" p. 53
  • Anthony Walton "In the Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge, Thinking of Rachel Carson" p. 54
  • Camille T. Dungy "Language" p. 55
  • June Jordan "For Alice Walker (a summertime tanka)" p. 56
  • Lucille Clifton "generations" p. 57
  • Yusef Komunyakaa "Work" p. 58
  • Ross Gay "Poem to My Child, If Ever You Shall Be" p. 60
  • Sterling Brown "To a Certain Lady, in Her Garden" p. 63
  • Ed Roberson "Urban Nature" p. 65
  • Reginald Shepherd "September Songs" p. 66
  • Cycle Three Dirt on Our Hands
  • Richard Wright from 12 Million Black Voices p. 71
  • Anne Spencer "Another April" p. 74
  • Gerald Barrax Sr. "Barriers" p. 75
  • Lenard D. Moore "A Young Peacock" p. 76
  • Major Jackson "Urban Renewal: XIII" p. 77
  • Audre Lorde "The Bees" p. 78
  • Anthony Walton "Carrion" p. 80
  • June Jordan "look at the blackbird fall" p. 82
  • Wanda Coleman "Flight of the California Condor" p. 83
  • Camille T. Dungy "Since Everyone Can Never Be Safe" p. 87
  • Patricia Smith "Won't Be But a Minute" p. 90
  • Michael S. Harper "Called" p. 91
  • Jean Toomer "Harvest Song" p. 93
  • Arna Bontemps "A Black Man Talks of Reaping" p. 95
  • Melvin Dixon "Wood and Rain" p. 96
  • Claude McKay "Joy in the Woods" p. 97
  • Margaret Walker "Sorrow Home" p. 99
  • Honore Fanonne Je≈ers "Blues Aubade (or, Revision of the Lean, Post-Modernist Pastorale)" p. 100
  • Ed Roberson "romance" p. 102
  • Alice Dunbar-Nelson "April Is on the Way" p. 103
  • Cycle Four Pests, People Too
  • C. S. Giscombe "Boll Weevils, Coyotes, and the Color of Nuisance" p. 109
  • Amber Flora Thomas "Miscarriage in October with Ladybugs" p. 114
  • Gregory Pardlo "Man Reading in Bed by a Window with Bugs" p. 116
  • Major Jackson "Pest" p. 117
  • Tim Seibles "Ambition II: Mosquito in the Mist" p. 119
  • Richard Wright #459 p. 122
  • Thomas Sayers Ellis "The Market" p. 123
  • Tara Betts "For Those Who Need a True Story" p. 124
  • Lenard D. Moore "Postcard to an Ecologist" p. 126
  • C. S. Giscombe "Nature Boy" p. 127
  • Robert Hayden "A Plague of Starlings" p. 128
  • Janice N. Harrington "O Believer" p. 130
  • Audre Lorde "The Brown Menace or Poem to the Survival of Roaches" p. 132
  • Kwame Alexander "Life" p. 134
  • Kamilah Aisha Moon "What a Snakehead Discovered in a Maryland Pond and a Poet in Corporate America Have in Common" p. 135
  • Shane Book "The Lost Conquistador" p. 137
  • Lucille Clifton "the beginning of the end of the world" p. 141
  • Natasha Trethewey "Carpenter Bee" p. 142
  • Yusef Komunyakaa "Yellowjackets" p. 144
  • Cycle Five Forsaken of the Earth
  • Alice Walker "The Flowers" p. 147
  • Phillis Wheatley "On Imagination" p. 149
  • Nikki Giovanni "For Saundra" p. 151
  • G. E. Patterson "The Natural World" p. 153
  • Langston Hughes "Lament for Dark Peoples" p. 154
  • Anne Spencer "White Things" p. 155
  • Rita Dove "Parsley" p. 156
  • Paul Laurence Dunbar "The Haunted Oak" p. 159
  • Albery Whitman from Rape of Florida, Canto I p. 162
  • Douglas Kearney "Swimchant of Nigger Mer-Folk (An Aquaboogie Set in Lapis)" p. 166
  • Clarence Major "Water usa" p. 167
  • Major Jackson "Migration" p. 168
  • Ruth Ellen Kocher "February Leaving" p. 169
  • Ed Roberson "blue horses" p. 171
  • Gwendolyn Brooks "Sick Man Looks at Flowers" p. 172
  • Arna Bontemps "Prodigal" p. 173
  • Cynthia Parker-Ohene "potters' field" p. 174
  • Natasha Trethewey "Monument" p. 175
  • Cycle Six Disasters, Natural and Other
  • Mona Lisa Saloy "Disasters, Nature, and Poetry" p. 179
  • Askia M. Tour "Floodtide" p. 184
  • Sterling Brown "Children of the Mississippi" p. 188
  • James A. Emanuel "Emmett Till" p. 191
  • devorah major "sign post" p. 192
  • Audre Lorde "Song" p. 193
  • G. E. Patterson "The Sacred History of the Earth" p. 195
  • Yusef Komunyakaa "A Greenness Taller Than Gods" p. 196
  • Patricia Spears Jones "San Francisco, Spring 1986" p. 197
  • Carl Phillips "The Cure" p. 199
  • Natasha Trethewey "Liturgy" p. 201
  • Jean Toomer "Reapers" p. 203
  • Ishmael Reed "Earthquake Blues" p. 204
  • Amber Flora Thomas "Erasure" p. 206
  • Douglas Kearney "Floodsong 2: Water Moccasin's Spiritual" p. 208
  • Anne Spencer "Requiem" p. 210
  • Robert Hayden "Ice Storm" p. 211
  • Cycle Seven Talk of the Animals
  • Sean Hill "A Shepherd's Tale" p. 215
  • Jean Toomer "Beehive" p. 218
  • Rachel Eliza Griffiths "Black-and-White Dusk at Limantour Beach" p. 219
  • Paul Laurence Dunbar "Sympathy" p. 221
  • Melvin B. Tolson "The Sea-Turtle and the Shark" p. 222
  • Richard Wright #175 p. 224
  • Harryette Mullen "European Folk Tale Variant" p. 225
  • Wendy S. Walters "Man Raised as Chicken" p. 226
  • C. S. Giscombe "Far" p. 227
  • Shara McCallum "The Spider Speaks" p. 228
  • Cyrus Cassells "The Hummingbird" p. 229
  • Tim Seibles "The Herd" p. 230
  • Cornelius Eady "Speed" p. 233
  • Ishmael Reed "Points of View" p. 234
  • Wanda Coleman "Requiem for a Nest" p. 235
  • Clarence Major "Surfaces and Masks: XXX" p. 236
  • Toi Derricotte "The Minks" p. 237
  • Janice N. Harrington "Possum" p. 239
  • Afaa Michael Weaver "The Appaloosa" p. 244
  • G. E. Patterson "April Lyric / All I Know Is" p. 245
  • Cycle Eight What the Land Remembers
  • Honore Fanonne Je≈ers "April in Eatonton" p. 249
  • Robert Hayden "Locus" p. 252
  • Myronn Hardy "Jaguaripe" p. 254
  • Janice N. Harrington "What There Was" p. 256
  • Frank X Walker "Wind Talker" p. 258
  • Lucille Clifton "mulberry fi elds" p. 260
  • E. Ethelbert Miller "I Am Black and the Trees Are Green" p. 261
  • Amaud Jamaul Johnson "The Maple Remains" p. 262
  • Douglas Kearney "Tallahatchie Lullabye, Baby" p. 264
  • June Jordan "Out in the Country of My Country" p. 265
  • Rita Dove "Three Days of Forest, a River, Free" p. 266
  • Claudia Rankine "American Light" p. 267
  • C. S. Giscombe "Look Ahead, Look South: the future" p. 269
  • Margaret Walker "Southern Song" p. 270
  • Ed Roberson "Wave" p. 271
  • Evie Shockley "her table mountain" p. 272
  • Sherley Anne Williams from "Juneteenth: The Bicentennial Poem" p. 274
  • Indigo Moor "Tap-Root" p. 276
  • Marilyn Nelson "Last Talk with Jim Hardwick" p. 278
  • Michael S. Harper "History as Apple Tree" p. 279
  • Cycle Nine Growing Out of This Land
  • Camille T. Dungy "Writing Home" p. 283
  • Richard Wright #559 p. 286
  • Yusef Komunyakaa "The Millpond" p. 287
  • Sean Hill "Seven Pastorals at Sixteen" p. 290
  • Janice N. Harrington "Before a Screen Door" p. 293
  • Indigo Moor "Pull" p. 295
  • C. S. Giscombe "Two Directions" p. 297
  • Marilyn Nelson "My Grandfather Walks in the Woods" p. 298
  • Stephanie Pruitt "Mississippi Gardens" p. 300
  • Gerald Barrax Sr. "I Called Them Trees" p. 301
  • Wanda Coleman "Beaches. Why I Don't Care for Them" p. 303
  • Ruth Ellen Kocher "At 57, My Father Learns to Grow Things" p. 305
  • Gregory Pardlo "Suburban Noir" p. 306
  • June Jordan "Letter to the Local Police" p. 307
  • Frank X Walker "Homeopathic" p. 309
  • Terrance Hayes "Root" p. 310
  • Audre Lorde "What My Child Learns of the Sea" p. 312
  • Remica L. Bingham "The Ritual of Season" p. 313
  • Mark McMorris "More Than Once in Caves" p. 315
  • Al Young "Pachuta, Mississippi / A Memoir" p. 317
  • Cycle Ten Comes Always Spring
  • Marilyn Nelson "First Skunk of Spring" p. 321
  • Anne Spencer "[Earth, I Thank You]" p. 325
  • Sean Hill "Bemidji in Spring" p. 326
  • Nikki Giovanni "Winter Poem" p. 328
  • Claude McKay "After the Winter" p. 329
  • Joanne V. Gabbin "For Alexis" p. 330
  • Ross Gay "Thank You" p. 333
  • George Marion McClellan "Spring Dawn" p. 334
  • James Weldon Johnson "Deep in the Quiet Wood" p. 335
  • Alice Dunbar-Nelson "Violets" p. 336
  • Claudia Rankine "The Man. His Bowl. His Raspberries." p. 337
  • Camille T. Dungy "What to Eat, and What to Drink, and What to Leave for Poison" p. 338
  • Langston Hughes "Earth Song" p. 342
  • Jessie Redmon Fauset "Rondeau" p. 343
  • Kendra Hamilton "Southern Living" p. 344
  • Elizabeth Alexander "Geraniums" p. 346
  • Margaret Walker "My Mississippi Spring" p. 347
  • Tim Seibles "Fearless" p. 348
  • Credits p. 351
  • List of Contributors p. 361
  • Index of Authors p. 379
  • Index of Titles p. 383

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